A generic camshaft adjusting device of the pre-cited type is known from EP 0 799 976 A1 and comprises a drive pinion configured as an outer rotor which is connected in driving relationship to a crankshaft of an internal combustion engine by a traction means, and a winged wheel configured as an inner rotor and connected rotationally fast to a camshaft of the internal combustion engine. The drive pinion comprises a hollow space defined by a circumferential wall and two side walls, into which hollow space is inserted the winged wheel which comprises four radially arranged wings on the periphery of its wheel hub. Four hydraulic working chambers are defined within the hollow space of the drive pinion by four uniformly spaced radial limiting walls which extend from the inner surface of the circumferential wall towards the central longitudinal axis of the drive pinion. Each of the working chambers is divided into two hydraulic pressure chambers by one of the wings of the winged wheel. For a sealing of the individual pressure chambers of the device relative to one another, the free end face of each of the limiting walls of the drive pinion comprises a sealing strip arranged in an axial reception groove and pre-tensioned by a separate leaf spring, said sealing strip being in sealing contact with the wheel hub of the winged wheel, while, at the same time, the free end faces of the wings of the winged wheel are in sealing contact with the inner surface of the circumferential wall of the drive pinion, likewise by sealing strips arranged in axial reception grooves and pre-tensioned by a leaf spring. Thus, by an optional successive or simultaneous pressurizing of the pressure chambers of the device by a hydraulic pressure medium, the winged wheel can be turned and/or fixed relative to the drive pinion to obtain a relative rotation and/or a continuous hydraulic clamping of the camshaft relative to the crankshaft.
A drawback of this prior art device is that each seal for the sealing of the pressure chambers of the device relative to one another consists of a sealing strip and a leaf spring, that is to say of two components so that, depending on the number of wings on the winged wheel and/or the number of limiting walls in the drive pinion, a great number of expensive components is required for the sealing of the pressure chambers of the device. Since the assembly of these components is mostly done manually, it is relatively cost-intensive and complicated, and it is not possible to exclude an unintentional omission or an unnoticed loss of one of these components, particularly of one of the leaf springs which are not visible in the assembled state. This can lead to leakage and thus, as experience has shown, to a malfunctioning of the device. Further, an addition of manufacturing tolerances in the width of the reception grooves for the sealing strips and in the width of the sealing strips themselves can lead to a canting of the sealing strips during the adjusting operation so that the sealing function of the sealing strips is strongly prejudiced and a higher wear of the device can occur. At extremely low temperatures, at which the hydraulic pressure medium has a high viscosity which causes higher shear forces in the gaps between the winged wheel and the drive pinion leading to increased friction therebetween, the prior art sealing strips tend to clamp or stick to the drive pinion and/or the winged wheel so that the desired adjusting times of the device cannot always be realized.